THE VATICAN'S DOCTRINE: THE REACTION

THE VATICAN'S DOCTRINE: THE REACTION; U.S. Responds on Established Lines

By PETER STEINFELS

Published: March 31, 1995

Much immediate reaction in the United States to Pope John Paul II's new encyclical fell along the established battle lines of Roman Catholic teaching on abortion and euthanasia, the major targets of the papal declaration. But the Pope also gained some surprising approval from outside his usual circle of supporters and stirred some troubled responses among Catholics.

Catholic church leaders welcomed the papal statement, to be sure, while Planned Parenthood, a major advocate of abortion rights and provider of abortion services, denounced it. Criticism also came from the Hemlock Society, an educational group that advocates access to voluntary euthanasia and medical assistance in committing suicide for the terminally ill.

But Frances Kissling, director of Catholics for a Free Choice, called the encyclical "a very thorough, very intelligent exposition," well-informed and up-to-date, before enumerating her major differences with the document.

As a group supporting abortion rights, her organization has been denounced by the Vatican and may even be the target of one of the encyclical's passages warning Catholics that it is not only forbidden to avail themselves of any law permitting abortion or euthanasia, but it is also wrong to "take part in a propaganda campaign in favor of such a law" or to vote for it.

"There's no question that there are differences between Catholic and Jewish positions on an issue like abortion," said Rabbi Jack Bemporad, who heads the Center for Christian-Jewish Understanding in Fairfield, Conn.

But noting the nation's growing resort to the death penalty and reluctance to aid the poor, he endorsed one of the Pope's key images: "I must tell you I think we do have a 'culture of death,' and in that situation you need someone to get up and say, human life is sacred."

Perhaps the most complicated reactions to the Pope's encyclical came from the church's own moral theologians.

Conservative theologians gave the encyclical enthusiastic support.

The Rev. Richard A. McCormick, considered in many quarters to be the dean of Catholic moralists, especially in matters bearing on medical ethics, was supportive but also raised some questions.

"Given the way life has been cheapened in virtually every part of the globe, by war, hunger, poverty, street crime and drugs," he said, the Pope's "vision of a cataclysmic battle between cultures of life and death is a very valid point."

Father McCormick said that in the two areas the encyclical stresses, abortion and euthanasia, Catholic moral theologians do not share the kinds of disagreements with church teaching that have marked the American Catholic population generally.

Polls have shown that large percentages of Catholics do not agree with the position, now authoritatively repeated by the Pope, that abortion is never justified.

Like Americans generally, a plurality of Catholics reject a total ban on abortion but also say they reject abortions performed for reasons other than rape, incest, serious abnormalities in the fetus or threat to the life of the mother. However, depending on the question asked, the percentages opposing abortion run 15 to 20 points higher among those Catholics who are regular churchgoers.

Father McCormick pointed to the area where disagreement with the church's official teaching is most widespread among Catholics, contraception. "To some people the encyclical's treatment of contraception may still still operate to undermine what the Pope said about abortion and euthanasia, and I regret that," he said.

He also found unclear the concern the Pope addressed about legal measures "promoting" or "legitimizing" abortion. While court decisions declaring abortion a "right" and Government financing for abortions might be described in those terms, Father McCormick wondered whether every Government policy that simply allowed abortion to go unpunished would amount to promotion or legitimation.

Several theologians thought that the encyclical's passages dealing with morality and civil law would create problems for Catholic politicians who have supported access to abortion or public financing for it. They also indicated that some anti-abortion groups would be shaken by the Pope's blessing on politicians who back compromise measures limiting but not banning abortions.

Among those welcoming the encyclical as "one of the most important" statements of John Paul II's papacy was Joseph Cardinal Bernardin of Chicago, who 11 years ago developed the theme of the "consistent ethic of life" -- linking abortion with other issues like euthanasia and the death penalty, war and poverty.

Many Catholic officials and theologians said yesterday that this approach was embodied in the encyclical, although some regretted that the phrase itself was not used.

Among the encyclical's critics, Pamela J. Maraldo, the President of Planned Parenthood Federation of America, said, "As a practicing Catholic, I am appalled by a document that denies the moral authority of women and jeopardizes the health of people around the world." She called the church's opposition to abortion "rooted in politics and not in principle."

Ms. Kissling, the head of Catholics for a Free Choice, challenged what she called the encyclical's "sweeping claims about all laws admitting any abortions." She said that "we need conversation and dialogue" rather than papal pronouncements.

From the Pro-Life Activities Office of the Catholic bishops' conference, Richard Doerflinger argued that the encyclical should promote exactly that.

The encyclical's "coherence and theological and philosophical depth," he said, "should get the American debate beyond the slogans."